13 Life Expectancy
by Artisan-Noteworthy
Summary: Following the Tim Burton / Shane Acker movie '9'/ What if there were more than only the 9?
1. Chapter 1

**13's Lost Past: Part 1**

The normally peaceful Clan was suddenly turned upside down as the Machines closed in on the group of StitchPunks. This was new - as the Machines had never attacked before.  
Up until now, the only Machines that attacked people were in the movies.  
One StitchPunk in particular, was fearful of the looming Beasts - the leader of the Clan, 10.  
Worriedly, he turned to his apprentice, a tall StitchPunk who happened to be the youngest in the Clan.  
"13! You have to get out of here! If they catch you, they'll KILL you!"  
"But, 10, what about you and the others?!"  
"We'll be alright. We'll stall them as long as we can while you get out of here."  
10 said, turning to see a Lizard Beast charge into the Main Center.  
The beast was horrible-looking- the skeleton was still that of a giant lizard, skull and all, although the rest of it's body was made up of complex machinery, the likes of which 13 never saw before.  
"10, I won't leave you!"  
"No. You HAVE to get out of here!" 10 said, having just enough time to knock a Machine backwards with his spear.  
"Here." 10 said, turning once again to face his Apprentice.  
"Take this." 10 putting his pin in 13's hands. That pin had always been 10's symbol- much like 1's cape and hat, 10 was never seen without it. (10 had told him, once, that it belonged to his creator, and was given to him before he died.)  
"10 . .. ." 13 said sadly, knowing what it meant.  
"You have to go now." 10 said turning back in time to see 12 being torn apart by the Lizard Beast.  
"10, I WON'T - "  
13's protest was interrupted by a swing from 10's spear.  
"This is NOT a request - I'm ORDERING you to leave!" 10 boomed, pointing the spear end at 13's chest where the zipper pull hung.  
13 couldn't help but feel hurt.  
"GO. Get OUT of here!" His mentor roared, and the Lizard Beast turned to face them.  
10 gasped in fear as the Beast charged at the youngest StitchPunk, who still had so much to learn about the world and how to defend himself in it.  
In a flash, 10 knocked 13 out of the way only to be caught in it's jaws instead.  
"10!" 13 started running after them.  
"No! You MUST leave!"  
13 hesitated.  
The Machines had now successfully taken over their Clan.  
"Go on." 10 yelled.  
"You must survive. Find the Original 9. They will help you. Go - find the one named 0."  
He said tossing 13 his spear.  
Sadly, 13 turned and ran - his own cowardice overriding every other emotion in him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, he finally stopped running and sat on a pile of rubbish.  
He sighed sadly, clutching 10's spear and pin to him.  
"What have I done?!"  
Images of the Lizard Beast that killed his family haunted his mind.  
A sudden noise nearby made 13 jump.  
"No . .. " He gasped in disbelief, as the Lizard Beast appeared before him.  
The Beast made a quick swipe at him, which tore off the zipper pull and sent 13 flying backwards until he hit a brick wall, knocking him unconscious. Limply, 13 fell into a small hole in the ground.  
The Beast tried desperately for hours to get the young StitchPunk, but eventually gave up and walked away, defeated.  
When 13 finally came to, a few days had passed, and all his memories of his past life with the other StitchPunks were gone with them.  
"Wh - what am I doing here?" He groaned, and gasped as he saw his body.  
"WHAT am I?!"  
He noticed the pin and the spear that landed not too far from him and picked them up, putting the pin inside him.  
Shakily, he managed to climb out of the hole only to see the devastation of the world.  
"What happened . . . . ?"

 **13's Lost Past Pt. 2**

For days 13 wandered pointlessly through the Emptiness, with no thoughts as to where to go, or what to do.  
He stumbled over a part of a metal sheet, and fell to the ground.  
Groaning he shakily got up, only to see the outline of two other StitchPunks.  
"Wh-what . . ?" He gasped, looking at them as they ran over to him.  
"Are you ok?" One asked, clearly a female from her voice.  
"21! What are you DOING?!" The second voice boomed, this one was a male.  
"We don't know who he is!"  
"But 20, he's hurt!"  
"And what about ½?! HE was hurt, too. Did you forget what he DID?!"  
The female, 21, sighed, irritated with her brother.  
""I'll NEVER forget . . "  
13 was absolutely confused.  
"What's going on? Who ARE you? And - who am I? What ARE we?!"  
The twins looked at each other, clearly worried.  
"We're StitchPunks . . ." 20 said, unsure why he asked.  
"But . . . What ARE we? 'StitchPunk' . . . . what . . ." 13 groaned, putting his hand to his head.  
"We were created by humans to help save the world." 21 offered.  
" 'Humans'? " 13 groaned. It was going to be a long day . . . .  
A few, very long, hours later 20 and 21 had explained the best they could about the war, and what happened.  
"Wait, wait - so you're telling me, I was sewn together, had a human soul shoved into my body, and machines - which were created by humans as well - attacked the humans, killing them all, and it's up to us - all 6 inches of us - to stop those GIANTS?!"  
20 and 21 nodded at him.  
"Someone didn't plan this out very well . . . ." 13 said, furrowing his eyebrows.  
"How are WE supposed to stop THEM?!"  
"We're faster." 21 smiled.  
"Able to adapt to our surroundings quickly." 20 added.  
"We're small enough to fit into holes that THEY can't fit in."  
"And, let's face it, we're smarter." 20 said raising an eyebrow sarcastically.  
A loud boom made everyone of them jump a few inches in the air.  
"That sounded close. . . " 21 gasped as she ran to see what it was.  
"TOO close." 20 said, joining her.  
"We better get out of here."  
No sooner had 20 finished his sentence than a mechanical arm grab 13 by the waist and yank him backwards.  
"Help!" He barely managed to scream as it started to carry him away.  
20 pulled out his make-shift boomerang he built, melting part of an Xacto blade so it bent smoothly in the middle, and threw it at the Beast, catching it in his eye.  
Shrieking, it dropped 13 to the ground, where 21 was waiting.  
21 stood over him.  
"Come on!" She ordered. "Get UP!"  
13 shook his head as he was helped to his feet, part of his arm and leg and a tear by his right eye, that was torn by the creature's grasp.  
They stood under the creatures' belly, and jabbed the wires that held it together until it lost the use of one of it's legs.  
Screeching once more, it ran off.  
"Whew." 20 sighed.  
"That was an easy one."  
13 gave him a dumbfounded stare.  
"What about that was EASY?!"  
"Normally they fight fiercer."  
13 looked at 21 who nodded.  
" I hate the world . . " 13 sighed as 21 started sewing up 13's eye.  
The damage to his leg and arm were much worse, and 21 had to find some fabric to mend it.  
13 sighed when he saw that the fabric that was now sewn to his body was yellow. Though he didn't remember much about it, he had loved the color blue he was made from.  
Those horrid patches of yellow reminded him, in the farthest corners of his memory, of a similar loss. One, he knew, was painfull.  
"Come on." 20 said motioning for them to follow.  
"It's getting dark, and it's not safe to be here any longer."  
"Where are we going?" 13 asked, making sure to keep by the two.  
"We're looking for the Original 9."  
" There are more of us? Who are they?"  
"As their name implies, they were the ones who were created first. If we can find _them_ , we'll be safe."  
"More or less." 20 huffed.  
A few more days of struggling through the emptiness, and they came upon a figure standing in the distance.  
"What is it?" 13 asked, mostly to himself, walking over to it.  
"13! Would you get back here?!" 20 growled.  
As he got closer, he noticed the number '11' clearly drawn on it's back.  
"Look! It has a number! It's one of us!" He said, excited to find another like them.  
Eagerly, he ran over to it.  
"Hi, 11! I'm number 13! If you're lonely, you can come with 20 and 21 and myself, if you want . . ."


	2. Creation of 13 (Alternate)

I watched as the scientist had created the original 9 StitchPunks.  
Although it had worked, he was much too old to be attempting to create so many at a time.  
So I went on to try to create a SticthPunk myself.

After carefully studing his jornal and notes, as well as how others had created their own Stitchpunks, I was ready to start, and thus, 13 was born.  
Unfortunately, Barron my black cat, had walked by JUST as I was transferring a part of my soul into 13, and a hair had gotten caught in his seams.  
He smiled, and patiently looked up at me and waited for me to put him down on the table.  
I'd hoped that the cat hair wouldn't've had any effects on the little guy, but after I put him down on the ground, a sudden strong gust of wind blew a book off the table and right on to the poor guy's head.  
Quickly I removed the book frearing the worst, but aside from a busted seam, he appeared fine.  
He even laughed at himself, saying his number was bad luck.

It appears that Number 13 is going to be a sturdy spirit, albeit an un-lucky one.

After I fixed his seam, he looked directly into my eyes and thanked me.  
Then I noticed that his eyes were BLUE!  
Truly, this is a first, as I have NEVER heard of a StitchPunk that had any color in their eyes before.  
I put a 'Surf Shack' bird house on the desk next to me, and told him it was his, and that he could even decorate it if he wished, after all, that's why I gave him pen quills on his left hand.  
He eagerly explored his new home from top to bottom, and when he was done, he asked if he could see the rest of the room.  
'Of course!' I replied, and he took off like a SHOT!  
He has the wisdom of 2, the kindness of 5, and the ENERGY of 3 and 4!  
I couldn't help but notice that despite the glaringly obvious fact that he WILL be terribly un-lucky, he seems like a natural performer, as he played with a pirate ship model I had on my bookshelf, pretending that he was a Pirate himself, and on the high seas.

Even though that 13 is my first StitchPunk creation, I know without a moments' doubt, that he will be MY greatest creation.

(By the way, he fell off my Entertainment Center, and into by cats' water dish . .. .)


End file.
